The Senate, during plenary on Thursday, passed, for a second reading, a bill to repeal and enact the Students Loan Access to Higher Education Act, 2024.
The bill was sponsored by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele.
The News Age4ncy of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Senate President Godswill Akpiabio read President Bola Tinubu’s letter transmitting the bill to the Senate for consideration and passage.
Following this, the bill was read for the first reading and, consequently, the second reading after the debate.
Leading debate on the bill, Mr Bamidele said it sought to enhance the implementation of the higher education loan scheme by addressing challenges relating to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund) management structure.
He said the bill would also address the applicant’s eligibility requirements, the purpose of the loan, funding sources, and disbursement.
Mr Bamidele said the bill also aimed to provide loans to qualified Nigerians to pay tuition, charges, and upkeep during their studies in approved tertiary education institutions and vocational and skills acquisition institutions in Nigeria.
According to him, the bill will help build, operate, and maintain a diversified pool of funds to provide loans to qualified applicants and ensure access to higher education, vocational training, and skills acquisition.
He said the bill would help ensure the recovery of all debts due to the fund from loans granted to qualified applicants, except where the board believes that a loanee should be exempted from repayment.
The lawmaker said this would be in the event of death, considerations of hardship, and the impossibility or undue difficulty of repaying the loan.
He appealed to lawmakers to give the bill expeditious passage because of its strategic importance to manpower development, which was in line with the policy thrust of Mr Tinubu’s administration.
The bill will help build, operate, and maintain a diversified pool of funds to provide loans to qualified applicants and ensure access to higher education, vocational training, and skills acquisition.
Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin said Mr Tinubu had signed the bill when he assumed office, adding that the president brought the principal act back for amendment.
He said this was to ensure easy execution and allow indigent students who wanted to be educated but did not have the money.
Mr Barau said the bill would provide finance and allow them access to finance for their education and be educated.
“No other President has shown a passion to help advance our tertiary educational system like President Tinubu.
“Let us give him all the necessary encouragement to make sure that this bill succeeds, and he implements it,” Mr Barau said.
After it passed the second reading, the bill was referred to the Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for further legislative inputs and report back to the plenary on the next legislative date.
Meanwhile, NELFUND has clarified that the federal government student loan has not been suspended indefinitely as widely reported.
Loan scheme not suspended
The Executive Secretary of NELFund, Akintunde Sawyer, was quoted as saying that the programme has been suspended indefinitely during a media interview.
However, NELFund spokesperson, Nasir Ayitogo, on Wednesday, said: “While there has been a postponement, we wish to state that it is not indefinite, as alluded to in the reports.”
Mr Ayitogo further stated that NELFUND is 100 per cent set for the launch and declared that the “loan application portal is ready, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has since approved the funds for the smooth take-off.”
